Simulation # 1

Calculation of Power and Energy

For passive components
by Graphical Method

Electrical circuit simulation laboratory (EE273)

Department of Electrical Engineering,
NIT Rourkela
Aim of the Expt.:

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 • Understand graphical significance of differentiation and Integration
• Understand piecewise signal analysis of a continuous signals
• Calculate instantaneous power and energy for electric circuit containing passive
elements using Multisim simulation

Theory:

Piecewise linear functions:

A piecewise linear function is one composed of straight-line segments. In the case of
differentiation only continuous functions are considered. A continuous function is the one
that does not possess abrupt jumps; all changes in the function take some amount of time to
occur. The examples of continuous and discrete functions are as shown in Figure 1.
Piecewise linear functions are of importance because of two basic reasons: First,
many common waveforms arising in electrical circuit applications are of this general type.
Second, working with piecewise linear functions in basic transient analysis provide some
insight into physical nature of the operations that would be difficult with other functions.

Figure 1 Examples of continuous and discrete signals

Power and Energy stored in Capacitance:

The power in the capacitor is the product of instantaneous voltage across and
instantaneous current through the capacitor. The energy stored in a capacitor is a function of
voltage across it. In a capacitor at any time t, energy is given by
1
𝑤𝑐 (𝑡) = 𝐶𝑣 2 (𝑡)
2
Energy can also be obtained by integrating the power over the time period. In an ideal
capacitor left open circuited, the voltage and energy would remain stored forever. However,
in practical capacitors, always have some leakage dielectric, which will eventually discharge
the voltage and dissipate the energy. The energy stored in a capacitor represents potential
energy, since it is a function of charge at rest.

Example:
A 0.5 uF capacitor is supplied with a voltage having waveform v(t) as shown in Figure 2
determine and plot as functions of time

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 a) Current
b) Power
c) energy

Figure 2 Piecewise linear voltage applied to capacitor

Simulation:

1. Build a circuit where a capacitor is excited by

piecewise linear voltage signal as shown in Figure
3. Initial conditions of the capacitor are assumed to
be zero.

2. Piecewise linear voltage source is placed under

“signal voltage sources”. After placing it on
workspace, double click the symbol to edit the
signal. Enter the values of Time and Voltage as
per the signal shown in Figure 2. First and last Figure 3 Circuit for plotting current
voltage values are set to zero. waveform

3. Plot the voltage and current waveforms separately using transient analysis tab with
appropriate time parameters.

4. To plot power and energy graphs, use elements like “multiplier and integrator” from
the control function box as shown in Figure 4. As multiplier in Multisim uses two
voltage sources as input, a current controlled voltage source with trans-resistance
value set to 1 is used to convert current into voltage.

Figure 4 Circuit for plotting power and energy waveform

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Questions:
1. Why a voltage source with magnitude “0”
is placed in series with capacitor in Figure
3?

2. Find the output voltage of a 0.2 uF

capacitor when excite by a current source
with piecewise linear current input as
shown in Figure 5. Figure 5

3. A square wave oscillates between +10V and -10 V

with a frequency of 1 kHz is applied across 1-mH
inductor as shown in Figure 6. The waveform starts
with positive half cycle. Plot the waveforms of
voltage and current over one cycle.

Figure 6

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